Enough serious stuff! Today, let's cut right to the tasting notes, with my report on a recent "blind tasting" match between a bargain-priced Italian Pinot Grigio and an Oregon Pinot Gris. (Yes, despite the translation, it's the same grape.)

Kris 2000 Pinot Grigio delle Venezie ($8.99)
This clear, straw-color wine from Northeastern Italy shows light, fresh tropical-fruit aromas in the glass, kiwi and starfruit and a distant hint of banana. Tropical fruit carries over to the palate in a dry, clean and crisp flavor that's more subtly delicate than forward, adding hints of wool and almonds as it warms in the glass. It's an appealing wine at a very reasonable price. U.S. importer: Winebow Inc., NYC. (Sept. 15, 2001)

Chehalem 2000 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris ($15.99)
Hailing from Oregon in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where Pinot Gris is emerging as the perfect match with the regional salmon, this light straw-colored wine shows a faint bronze hue in the glass. Simple vinous aromas are fresh but shy; the wine is faintly prickly on the tongue and shows faint sweetness on first tasting and a slight bitterness in the finish. Best quite cold, it loses focus as it warms, turning soft and more perceptibly sweet. (Although the winery's spec sheets indicate only a "threshold" level of sugar in the wine, its unusually high alcohol level, almost 14 percent, may enhance this perception.) Good for washing down food, but in side-by-side competition with the Italian white at half its price, it's not much of a contender. (Sept. 15, 2001)

FOOD MATCH: Pinot Gris/Grigio is a food wine, and both wines showed well with a simple Chinese congee (jook), a comforting porridge of long-cooked rice with chicken and lots of scallions, ginger and garlic.

Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund

We are supporting, and urge you to support, the "Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund" established by the reputable importer Michael Skurnik Wines on behalf of the survivors of the restaurant workers killed in last week's World Trade Center disaster.

You'll find more information, and our secure credit-card payment page for this fund, at http://www.wineloverspage.com/windows, along with postal address information for the Fund if you prefer to send a check.

I hope you will give this effort your serious consideration. It is a worthy cause, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to the families that need help.

Administrivia

This is Wine Advisor Express, daily edition of The 30 Second Wine Advisor, distributed Tuesdays through Fridays. For archives of previous articles, and to read more about wine, visit Wine Lovers' Page, http://www.wineloverspage.com.

To subscribe, change your E-mail address, switch from daily to the weekly (Mondays only) distribution, or for any other administrative matters, E-mail wine@wineloverspage.com. In the unhappy event that you must leave us, please take a moment to let us know how we could have served you better. In all administrative communications, please be sure to include the exact E-mail address that you used when you subscribed, so we can find your record.